Renee Patterson’s most precious present this Christmas won’t be under her tree, and it didn’t come from a store. This holiday, she said, she got her life back.
The Upper Marlboro, Maryland, resident learned nine years ago she had kidney disease. One of her kidneys began to deteriorate, and she had to begin regular dialysis. Because she couldn’t find a family match, her former colleague and friend, Michael Williams, offered to donate one of his kidneys. Problem was, Patterson and Williams didn’t match either. But Patterson’s doctor suggested they look into the paired kidney donation program at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.
She became part a massive mix-and-match transplant effort in the U.S., involving more than a dozen kidneys
